This update post was previously posted on GamesLabs.net.
Welcome everyone to our second dev-log!
We are sorry for the delay between dev-logs... But we have some good news to make up for it :D
Today's dev-log will be mainly about how the economy will work in Minescape and how stats will transfer to the new network. As we've always said: "No progress will go to waste".
The economy
Since 2012, we've always wanted to have a better economy system in Minescape. Well here it comes! Minescape will have its economy totally controlled by you, the players. Which means that prices for given items can go up and down, according to the supply and demand.
The Grand Exchange
Minescape now has a working Grand Exchange that works whether you are online or not! You will also eventually be able to create selling bots! Here comes the day of making money whilst offline!
Here is a sneak peak at the grand exchange:
Here, we can see one page of the Grand Exchange UI. A player can select a certain item to make orders on!
Here is a picture of the advanced UI. Advanced players can create fully customised orders. We can see that there are two offers and also the price variation in the last 24h. The market opened at 12 coins per potion and the last offer was made for 10 coins, hence a 24h variation of -16.7%! We can also see that 5 potions were sold in the last 24h!
Stores
You can also buy items by visiting stores. All stores are also connected to the Grand Exchange and contain some infinite supply for starter items (e.g. bronze pickaxe, bronze hatchet).
You can sell your bronze tools at a lower price than the infinite-supply items to make money out of newbies!
Here are some pictures of the general store:
We can see the available items/offers, the items that are currently available for purchase
We can also create a custom offer if no-one is buying/selling what we want to offer!
Someone wants to buy some strength potions for 10 each. We could sell some potions to him and get coins!
Stats
Okay that looks cool, but what about OUR stats, OUR items?
It took us quite a bit of time to come up with a solution that works. There will obviously be some people disappointed in that solution, but that is the best solution we could find to keep the new Minescape properly balanced.
All your xp and items will be converted to Orbs.
"Why?! GIVE ME BACK MY STATS" We would love to be able to keep stats as they are. However Minescape has been re-balanced and the XP chart changed. This would not only make some players very strong compared to others, but it would ruin the economy of the game. Which is not something we want. The economy will probably have crises on some items, which is fine. But we can't start by having a few players own the entirety of the game's money.
"Orbs?!"
Orbs are our new cash currency. You can purchase cosmetics, XP boosters and more with them! 100 orbs will roughly be 1 euro/1 USD.
"And our ranks?!"
We are changing our ranks, however you will not lose anything in regards of the money you spent on Minescape. You will be upgraded to the next rank if the price for your old rank changed in your disadvantage.
"What about my old GamesLabs rank?!"
Old GamesLabs players will be rewarded with some unique cosmetics! Your old GamesLabs rank will be converted to orbs as well :D
Orbs
Here is a sneak peak at a Minescape global XP server boost NPC.
What about Mr Frog?! Mr Frog is a pet I bought using some orbs! There will be over 200 different cosmetics on release, half being in a season pass.... More info will be released soon about that..
Release date
The release will happen...... soon. YES THAT'S THE BEST I CAN GIVE YOU FOR NOW :D
We have been testing the network a lot recently and things look good! We're trying to find all big issues before soft-releasing the network!
However we do have a release date, which will be announced really soon. We will also open the server for a few hours for several people, there will be a Google form to sign up for that test opening. This test opening will last just a few hours and will allow some of you guys to experience the server before others! It will also help us find some issues we didn't encounter during our test sessions.
Stay tuned for our incoming blog post about this test session and future dev-logs! The big release is on its way for an incredible summer!
